Dylan Schmidt Wins Gold

Posted by Gold FM on 29/03/2012

Waihi 15 year old Dylan Schmidt has won Gold trampolining in the Junior Men’s Kellogg’s Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships at Seattle, Washington in the USA.The junior men’s division is for trampolinists under 18 years of age and Dylan was competing against athletes from other Pacific rim countries from as far a field as Russia, America, Canada and China.Not only did he win the gold, Dylan also achieved a personal best mark which is the highest score ever for a New Zealand competitor.The way things are going Dylan is well on the way to achieving his goal of representing New Zealand in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero.The next competition on the calendar for Waihi’s super jumper is the Indo Pacific Competition at Sydney in October. In January next year he’ll be off to Sydney for the Australasian Youth Olympics.Dylan’s sister Rachel, who could have attended the champs, sacrificed her opportunity to go to the US competition in Seattle so that Dylan could compete, as the budget to go to the event didn’t stretch enough to allow both her and Dylan to go.Rachel, who is 17, will also be competing in the Indo Pacifics in October, but when she turns 18 she’ll no longer be able to compete in the junior events.She’s already had her first taste in the women’s competition after competing in the Open Women’s Division of the World Trampolining Championships in England last year.Congratulations Dylan. You’re a champion! And of course a big pat on the back goes to rest of the Schmidt family who work very hard to make sure Dylan has the jump on all his competitors.They are always fundraising to make sure that both Dylan and Rachel can make the most of their prowess on the trampoline.